Glacier Country

We woke up to clear blue skies and, a spectacular view of the mountain tops from our room.

We drove to a car park, just outside the village. En route we crossed the river Waiho and steam was rising from this fast flowing stream - it looked lovely! At the Glacier Access Park we took a walk to the base (terminal face), of the glacier. This took about 50 minutes. It looked quite small to start with, until you could just make out tiny dots of people standing near the glacier, which gave the whole scene some perspective - the glacier is huge! And, apparently advancing rather than retreating which given the concern over global warming is quite a surprise in itself.

We walked over the Waiho river bed to get to the glacier, crossing over lots of rocks, some quite large - the rocks were schist rock - originally sedimentary rocks which when buried deep within the earth were subjected to so much pressure and heat that the sandstone metamorphosed - the result was quartz, biotite and feldspar - perpendicular and very striking.

After the glacier walk we followed a forest track to a pool of water where we could see the glacier reflected perfectly in the pond - fabulous!

Finally, we walked for an hour or so taking a loop route through dense rainforest - lichen, moss, various ferns and vines lined the track and tomtits played happily in the trees.

Having worked up an appetite we had lunch at one of the local restaurants in Franz Josef, delicious beer battered blue cod and chips(!), before continuing our journey further north with the Tasman Sea on our left and the Southern Alps on our right - it made for a very scenic drive.

After a couple of hours driving we turned off and inland following Arthur’s Pass - Arthur’s Pass road is the highest and most spectacular highway across the Southern Alps. We passed Jackson’s Pub which is all that remains of what was once a busy railhead and staging post. Further along we crossed the Otira Viaduct, completed in 1999, this section of the highway spans the rugged Otira River. At Arthur’s Pass village we stopped for the night - the forests here are dominated by a canopy of mountain beech and kea birds can be seen scavenging for food in the trees and along the roadside.

The tiny village of Arthur’s Pass is nestled in a valley about 3 miles east of the summit of Arthur’s Pass. It was originally the camping site of contractors engaged to push the road through from Christchurch to the West Coast in 1865.

Since the 1920s, the village has been a base for day trippers from Christchurch and Greymouth, walkers, trampers and mountaineers as well as skiers enjoy the splendid views. It is also the headquarters of Arthur’s Pass National Park.